General News Thread

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Aquablue, the proposed new Hiberno-French ProConti team, are saying that they've now sent ten riders final contracts to be signed after terms were agreed. So, much to my surprise, it does look like the team will actually happen. They've also bought the IAM team bus.

According to stickybottle, they will have a sixteen rider roster and are in negotiations with more than six riders to fill the remaining six team places.

It will be interesting to see both how many Irish riders they sign as, to be blunt, I'm not at all sure where they will find a substantial cohort of Irish riders who are ready to step up to ProConti level, and what level of international rider they bring in.

 

[Nirvana]

Provisional startlist of Giro di Lombardia
http://static2.ilombardia.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CI0109PAR_lomb.pdf

No Quintana nor Valverde for Movistar.
There is Van Avermaet despite the hard route.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Re:

There is Van Avermaet despite the hard route.

Olympic RR was said to be too hard for GVA as well

 

[Nirvana]

This year Lombardia it's harder then the Olympic RR, if he can manage to stay with climbers in such route would be by far more impressive, it's like a GT mountain stage with almost all climbing in the last 100 kms.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Provisional startlist of Giro di Lombardia
http://static2.ilombardia.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CI0109PAR_lomb.pdf

No Quintana nor Valverde for Movistar.
There is Van Avermaet despite the hard route.

Amador, Moreno and Visconti are capable of a result. Surprised that Izaguirre isn't named though.

Orica aren't messing around:

161 SUI19801220 ALBASINI Michael SUI
162 COL19900117 CHAVES RUBIO Johan Esteban COL
163 AUS19930906 HAIG Jack AUS
164 AUS19920813 HOWSON Damien AUS
165 CAN19850221 MEIER Christian CAN
166 ESP19921104 VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos ESP
167 GBR19920807 YATES Adam GBR
168 GBR19920807 YATES Simon GBR
D.S. STEPHENS Neil



Them, Astana and Sky look to be the strongest teams on paper.

 

[Wallenquist]

Paris Tours to become an extended version of Scheldeprijs with 252km of flat:
Late hills removed:

 

[Netserk]

What?!

The finish has been so great the last couple of years.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

And 80 km longer then in previous years. It's obvious that this is supposed to be THE dress rehearsal for the Doha road race. Good idea, hope this attracts the big names again.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

And 80 km longer then in previous years. It's obvious that this is supposed to be THE dress rehearsal for the Doha road race. Good idea, hope this attracts the big names again.

It was 231km last year.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

You're right, I mixed it up with the U23 edition. My bad.

 

[Netserk]

But yeah, the fact that it is longer is good news. Hopefully it will have the same length next year with the hills back on.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

But yeah, the fact that it is longer is good news. Hopefully it will have the same length next year with the hills back on.

I dream of it one day actually becoming Paris-Tours, not just randomoutwardsuburb-Tours

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

But yeah, the fact that it is longer is good news. Hopefully it will have the same length next year with the hills back on.

I dream of it one day actually becoming Paris-Tours, not just randomoutwardsuburb-Tours

Like the iconic Compiègne-Roubaix?

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

But yeah, the fact that it is longer is good news. Hopefully it will have the same length next year with the hills back on.

I dream of it one day actually becoming Paris-Tours, not just randomoutwardsuburb-Tours

Like the iconic Compiègne-Roubaix?

exactly

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Boonen has this in his back pocket!

 

[Billie]

what kind of *** is that???

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

But yeah, the fact that it is longer is good news. Hopefully it will have the same length next year with the hills back on.

I dream of it one day actually becoming Paris-Tours, not just randomoutwardsuburb-Tours

I dream of Bordeaux–Paris.

 

[capuldemetal]

No Tour de San Luis next year.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

No Tour de San Luis next year.

Howcome?

 

[capuldemetal]

buget issues.money talks,as usual.

 

[Monte]

No Lars Petter Nordhaug for Sky in the start list,.. And no contract for next year.. He did win Tour De Yorkshire last year. Damn they go out fast!

Edit:
"I pressed/replied the wrong thread, mod please move this to Lombardia thread; thanx!"

 

[TMP402]

Re:

buget issues.money talks,as usual.

Well, it would be nice to live in a money-free world but we aren't quite there yet.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

Re: Re:

buget issues.money talks,as usual.

Well, it would be nice to live in a money-free world but we aren't quite there yet.

If they were paying over-odds appearance fees it would have been unsustainable

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Re:

buget issues.money talks,as usual.

Alas, not because of expenditure on camera bikes.

 

[Red Rick]

Is there any news on the European Championchips for next year? If Sagan is getting a jersey I'd assume they're planning on organizing it continuously.

Though I do like the idea, I don't think it should be as late as it was this year, I think it can be in the slot of the ORR in non-Olympic years. I don't want to see big championchips too close to each other